Effects of Stress on Hair

Effects of stress on hair

We all face stress, but many people deal with the consequences of stress too. Stress leaves its impact on every aspect of life, both physically and emotionally. There are many things that you may experience as the after effects of stress on your physical body.

Many studies have shown that stress or tension has led to consequences of heart failure, brain tumour, high blood pressure, weight gain ( or loss), and even some types of cancers. Other physically related health consequences caused by taking too much stress include hair loss, sexual dysfunction, diabetes, gum diseases, etc. Obviously, there are many causes of stress that are necessary to be known like too busy lifestyle, inadequate sleep, stress at work, personal relationships, poor eating habits, sad upbringing….and the list goes on.

Effects of Unnecessary Stress on your Hair

The after effects of unnecessary stress vary from person to person, but all of them are quite disheartening.

Stress leads to Grey Hair

Although, you might feel like tearing your hair out because of problems related to economic issues, work-related stress, and personal issues, but stress is not the direct cause of your hair turning grey. Some of the recent studies show that alopecia areata targets dark hairs, and thus people who already have some grey hairs find that their dark hairs have also started becoming grey. As a result, studies state that stress is known to hasten the aging process and make you look older soon.

You may like to know more about stress:

Stress Causes, Symptoms and Remedies

Bad Hair Days – Dry and Brittle Hair

In the period of stress-related issues, the hair loses its shine, and thus become dry and brittle. When someone is faced with a powerful stress issue like break-ups, divorce, or serious illness, the body starts triggering extra telogen, which leads to dryness in hair and causing it to fall out pretty more than the usual amount. The hair goes into the telogen (fall-out) phase. Telogen effluvium is a very rare and common hair loss problem that mostly occurs up to three months after a very stressful event. Therefore, after the initial hair loss, the hair usually grows back within six to nine months. Other physiological effects like weight loss/gain, hormonal imbalance also causes emotional stress, which further leads to hair loss. In extreme conditions of unnecessary stress, you even tend to lose all your hair and turn bald.

Trichotillomania – Habitual Pulling Out of Hair

There is another acute yet different consequence that the person suffering from stress needs to know, called trichotillomania. In this case, you do not loose hair automatically; rather you become habitual of pulling out your own hair as a symptom of over stress. Therefore, people who pull out their own hair need to understand that they are creating their own hair loss problems.

As a result, if you find out that stress is the reason for your sudden hair loss, avoid taking too much stress and include a healthy and balanced diet in your lifestyle. This will definitely help you in avoiding the harmful consequences of stress on your hair and body.